To be fair, the byproducts are not something we're unaware of how to manage, we're just socially and politically unwilling to do it. Likewise, we know how to design and maintain much safer and more efficient reactors than anything we currently have running, but we lack the social and political will to make the change.

Besides, we like to pretend that burning coal isn't killing millions of us around the world, decade in, decade out. Focusing on the real human cost of when nuclear goes wrong, vs. when coal goes right makes it an easy choice.